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A review by aegagrus
Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa by Ezra Chitando, Adriaan Van Klinken
3.0
Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa is a useful book primarily in that it provides a digest of first-hand accounts from progressive African theologians, churches, and storytellers, detailing how these actors think and speak about the status of LGBT individuals in African Christianity. This source material is presented matter-of-factly, with limited external commentary. The case studies which are recounted open useful avenues of reflection: the complex relationship between progressive Christianity in the global north & global south; embodiedness and spiritual warfare as elements of the Pentecostal worldview; the application of Imago Dei to diverse communities, rather than to individuals. In general, the section on theologians is the strongest and the section on grassroots church organizing is the weakest, largely reflecting the availability of source material.
Van Klinken and Chitando are honest about some of their book's limitations -- it focuses primarily on homosexuality rather than other LGBT identities, it primarily describes the work of progressive elements of mainline Protestantism in an environment marked most notably by militantly homophobic charismatic evangelicalism, it is very Anglophone-oriented. In the absence of certain types of source material to recount, I would have appreciated somewhat more authorial effort to draw throughlines or advance new interpretations.
Still, the authors provide a valuable service: a lucid and accessible overview of attitudes among progressive Christians as they are expressed on the continent, taking seriously the idea that Christianity is a site of (internal & external) contestation, rather than solely an oppressive edifice or solely a liberatory vehicle.
Van Klinken and Chitando are honest about some of their book's limitations -- it focuses primarily on homosexuality rather than other LGBT identities, it primarily describes the work of progressive elements of mainline Protestantism in an environment marked most notably by militantly homophobic charismatic evangelicalism, it is very Anglophone-oriented. In the absence of certain types of source material to recount, I would have appreciated somewhat more authorial effort to draw throughlines or advance new interpretations.
Still, the authors provide a valuable service: a lucid and accessible overview of attitudes among progressive Christians as they are expressed on the continent, taking seriously the idea that Christianity is a site of (internal & external) contestation, rather than solely an oppressive edifice or solely a liberatory vehicle.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
Minor: Physical abuse and Suicide